This story is from September 8, 2021

Akola civic body cancels notice to fell 199 trees

Akola civic body cancels notice to fell 199 trees
Nagpur: The Akola Municipal Corporation (AMC) has withdrawn the notification inviting objections from the public for granting tree felling permission to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for road widening within the corporation limit.
AMC tree officer Pradeep Rajurkar had issued a public notice on September 4, inviting objections to fell 199 trees for NHAI.
However, the figure of 199 was allegedly deliberately arrived at to skip the new amended Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Preservation & Protection of Trees Act, 1975, which mandates that proposals that need felling of trees above 200 will have to be sent to the state tree authority.
Within the AMC limit there are around 300 trees, permission for which was sought by the NHAI project director. However, the tree officer issued notice for felling of 199 trees only, ostensibly to bypass the Act. The notice also mentioned tree felling in Patur-Medshi stretch which is not under the jurisdiction of the municipal corporation.
TOI had reported the issue on Tuesday, based on which green activist Sheikh Mohammed Sheikh Makbul, aka Munna from Akola raised objections. A complaint was also filed on Tuesday with the state environment ministry and district collector.
Taking serious note of the issue, municipal commissioner Nima Arora withdrew the notice issued on September 4. As more than 200 trees are involved, now the proposal on tree felling will be sent to the state government.
Till now, hundreds of huge trees have been chopped for widening of the Akola-Washim-Hingoli-Nanded NH-161.
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